November 6, 2016

June, a fifteen year-old soldier for the Republic, is tasked
with apprehending the vigilante, Day, who’s charged with the murder of her
brother.

But what will happen when June finds out the Republic
has been hiding secrets?

And what if Day isn’t what he seems?

The first chapter didn't capture my attention
but the next few captured me immediately.

Legend is told in alternating points of view.
This was an ideal format because the two narrators, June and Day, were on
opposing sides—June was on the side of the Republic and Day fought against it.
The dual narration was valuable because they had
different opinions, insights and secrets that the other wasn’t privy to. June
and Day’s storylines became tightly intertwined and I wondered how they were
going to respond to each other; at some point they had to decide whether the
other could be trusted or not.

June had the tendency to act distant, even though
she was far from heartless. Throughout the novel she was grieving and didn’t
have many people to open up to. She was primarily a soldier and a sister, but
she was forced to step out of those roles in Legend and become something else.She was tasked to find her brother’s
murderer, which led her away from her loyalty to the Republic.

Day was desperate and his every action put him
in danger from the Republic’s retribution. My heart broke for him because he
fought so hard against a world that was against him. Day had some unnamable
quality that drew me in—he was honourable. I rooted for Day, because he always
tried to do the right thing even with the odds stacked against him.

June and Day had a lot of similarities; they were a set of extremely
intelligent, empathetic and moral individuals. They both loved intensely and it
drove their actions. No matter what else was
going on June and Day put their families above all else, and they had
difficulties because of that. They were both planners who
thought things through, but were tested when circumstances drove them into
making quick decisions. They sensed when something wasn’t right and tried to do
something about it. June and Day bonded because of these similarities and the
traumas they both experienced. There was a lot of
interpersonal discovery between June and Day because neither was who the other
thought they were. They cared about, caused problems for, and challenged each other.

There were some really upsetting revelations in
Legend, but overall it didn't give me plot twists that I couldn't predict. I
was able to pick out when something was amiss, because Lu left breadcrumbs that
I followed. There was a conspiracy that Day and June uncovered.Unfortunately they didn’t have time or opportunity to
expose it in Legend.

I disliked more characters than I liked, which
was a new feeling for me. Fortunately, the characters I disliked were ones that
June and/or Day also didn’t like, however, I missed having more than a handful
of characters to care about. Neither June nor Day were close to a great number
of people and most of the relationships they had were fractured in some way. However,
June and Day were alone only because of circumstance and I felt sad for them because
their pain was obvious. They certainly had every reason to be distrustful, but
I wanted to see them rely more on others because they would have benefited from
building stronger relationships.

June and Day have a difficult path ahead of
them. They fought many fights in Legend, but the battle has only just begun.

September 27, 2016

This is the easiest Top
Ten Tuesday ever! I’m currently reading Legend by Marie Lu, and the next ten-ish
books on my TBR list are:

1. The Fever Code by James
Dashner

This one is first on my list because James is doing a book signing pretty soon in my area. I have a strong love/late relationship with the Maze Runner books: I love them, but they break my heart.

2. Three Dark Crowns by
Kendare Blake

Courts and kingdoms are a popular theme right now in YA
novels and the plot of this one sounds so good! Kendare Blake is also doing a
signing near me in October so I want to read it before then!

3. Replica by Lauren Oliver

I’ve read and loved several books by Lauren Oliver. Plus, she’s
such a kind person if you get the chance to meet her, so I had to add her
newest book to my list. The concept of two stories in one sounds really cool, but as an indecisive person I don't know how I'm going to read this.

4. Falling Kingdoms by Morgan
Rhodes

I wasn’t a super big fan of the cover so I never picked up
the book, but Morgan Rhodes is another author doing a signing near me, so I finally read the synopsis of this book and it sounds amazing! I have a feeling I’m going to be
kicking myself for not reading this series sooner!

5. What Light by Jay Asher

Thank you so much Random Penguin House (I know it’s Penguin
Random House but this makes me giggle) to sending me an ARC of this! Thirteen
Reasons Why holds such a special place in my heart and I’m so excited for this!!

6. Kids of Appetite by David Arnold

Another
thank you to Random Penguin for this one! I haven’t read Mosquitoland, but have
heard nothing but good things about it and this one. It also sounds like a good
break between all the magical lands I’ve been reading about.

7. Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

Oh my gosh,
guys; I can't wait for this! A princess with magic powers betrothed to a price
whose kingdom forbids all magic falls in love with his sister! This debut
sounds like it’s going to be made up of all the things I like and things I
haven’t read before; I’m so excited!

8. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

This has
been on my TBR list forever, but the photographs scared me! I’ve heard nothing
but good things and with the movie coming out I figured it’s time to give it a
go!

9. Girl on the Train

I want to try to read it before I see the movie, but it’s so
far from what I like to read that I’m hesitant.

10. The Captive Prince
trilogy by C.S. Pacat

According to
my friend these are what sexy, fanfiction dreams are made of—in novel
form. These are technically three books, but according to what my friend’s told
me I won't want to stop once I start so I'll be reading them one after another.

11. By Gaslight by Steven Price

The book
sits at #11 because it's out of my usual genre and it’s really long, so I don’t
know if I’ll get to it this fall or wait until winter. However, having said
that, as soon as I picked up this book I wanted to read it because it sounds
different and intriguing and I want to give it a try. I'm also a super fan of
the book cover!